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Neanderthal subsistence strategies: new evidence from the Mousterian Level XV of the Sopeña rock shelter (Asturias, northern Spain)

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Abstract

Many Palaeolithic archaeological sites have been excavated in the Cantabrian region of northern Spain, between the Cantabrian mountain range and the coast of the Bay of Biscay. The analyses of the materials thus recovered in sites such as El Castillo, Morín, Pendo, Covalejos, Esquilleu, El Mirón, Hornos de la Peña, El Cuco, El Ruso, Lezetxiki, Axlor, Arrillor, Amalda, Abauntz, and Gatzarria, among others, have contributed greatly to the understanding of Neanderthal animal-based subsistence in the area. However, most of the sites studied are in the eastern part of this area, and we know little on the western part, from just a handful of sites (El Sidrón, Llonín, La Viña, and La Güelga in Asturias; Cova Eirós in Galicia) and the zooarchaeological information has been limited, but is currently growing. El Sidrón has many cannibalized Neanderthal bones but few faunal remains, the Llonín cave shows short Neanderthal occupations, the Mousterian of La Viña yielded few faunal remains, and the three Mousterian levels of Cova Eirós were also short occupations. In this work, we present the zooarchaeological and taphonomical analyses from the Mousterian Level XV of Sopeña (Onís, Asturias), very rich in faunal remains, aiming to shed light on the Neanderthal subsistence on the western part of northern Spain. Faunal remains from Sopeña Level XV appear very modified by neanderthal actions. They did exploit a variety of ungulates from diverse ecosystems, both high mountains and river valleys, displaying the great versatility and adaptability in their subsistence strategies.

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Data availability

The fossils in this article are curated in the Gabinete de Prehistoria de la Conciencia Humana (GAPRECON2) Segovia, Spain by the Project PI, AP.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge first the then Mere of the Onís County Council, José Antonio González Gutiérrez, for his encouragement and support to the works at Sopeña. The Consejería de Igualdad y Asuntos Sociales and the Consejería de Patrimonio, both of the Government of the Principado de Asturias, authorized and made the excavations possible. The three Alvarez brothers at the Camping Picos de Europa helped us in many aspects, as did Luis Fernández, Cristina García, and Marcos Pascual Aspron. Luis Sánchez Fernández “El Zapateru” was our guide and Asunción del Cueto our sole work companion for most of the works in the excavation of the test trench. Thanks also to all the neighbors of the County of Onís, including the younger generation that worked daily in the laboratory. Thanks also to all the unpaid volunteers that carried out an excellent and committed labor. Research and excavations at Sopeña have been made possible thanks to the financial help of the Secretaría de Estado de Educación (MECD Spain)/European Social Fund, National Geographic Society (CRE) (USA), The Wenner Gren Foundation (USA), Leakey Foundation (USA), Human Origins Institute and Department of Anthropology (both in Arizona State University, USA), Wings World Quest Foundation (New York, USA), Williams College McMaster Nuclear Reactor, NSF Equipment Grant ILI 9151111 to A. R. Skinner (Massachusetts, USA); RFK Science Research Institute for ESR dates. Other dates were financed by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the government of Spain HAR22013-48784-C3-2-P and HAR2016-76760-C3-3-P awarded to J. Maroto, the Ramón y Cajal programme, awarded to A.C.P-L. and also by grants from the PalArq Foundation awarded to A.C.P-L. and A.G-d’A. Finally, we want to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments. All are gratefully acknowledged.

Funding

Open access funding is provided by Universidad Complutense de Madrid. The paper was written in the framework of financial help offered by the Secretaría de Estado de Educación (MECD Spain)/European Social Fund, National Geographic Society (CRE) (USA), The Wenner Gren Foundation (USA), Leakey Foundation (USA), Human Origins Institute and Department of Anthropology (both in Arizona State University, USA), Wings World Quest Foundation (New York, USA), Williams College McMaster Nuclear Reactor, NSF Equipment Grant ILI 9151111 to A. R. Skinner (Massachusetts, USA), the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of the government of Spain HAR22013-48784-C3-2-P and HAR2016-76760-C3-3-P awarded to J. Maroto, the Ramón y Cajal programme, awarded to A.C.P-L. and also by grants from the PalArq Foundation awarded to A.C.P-L. and A.G-d’A.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Prehistory, Ancient History and Archaeology, Universidad Complutense, c/ Profesor Aranguren s/n, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José Yravedra & Verónica Estaca-Gómez

  2. CAI Archaeometry, Universidad Complutense, c/Profesor Aranguren, s/n 28040, Madrid, Spain

    José Yravedra

  3. Instituto Universitario de Xeoloxía, Universidade da Coruña, ESCI, Campus de Elviña, 15071 A, Coruña, Spain

    Aurora Grandal-d’Anglade

  4. Museo Arqueológico y Paleontológico (MARPA), Plaza de las Bernardas s/n, 28801, Alcalá de Henares, Spain

    Ana C. Pinto-Llona

  5. Gabinete de Prehistoria de la Conciencia Humana (GAPRECON2), Segovia, Spain

    Ana C. Pinto-Llona

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  1. José Yravedra
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Contributions

José Yravedra JY Verónica Estaca VE Aurora Grandal-d'Anglade AG Ana C. Pinto-Llona APThe project was conceived and designed by AP. Data acquisition and processing of bone fossils were made by JY and AP. The processing and analysis of bones were made by JY and VE. Zooms was made by AG. The manuscript was drafted and edited by JY, and AP, the figures were made by JY, VE and AG the supervision was made by AP and AG. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to José Yravedra.

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All the figures have been created on purpose for this article; some belong to the Sopeña Archaeological Project archives and some have been composed by the authors. Bone modification pictures by J.Y.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Yravedra, J., Estaca-Gómez, V., Grandal-d’Anglade, A. et al. Neanderthal subsistence strategies: new evidence from the Mousterian Level XV of the Sopeña rock shelter (Asturias, northern Spain). Archaeol Anthropol Sci 16, 6 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12520-023-01914-1

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